One of the most important public health achievements of the 20th Century included access to safe drinking water for nearly all Americans through water treatment and disinfection. Outbreak surveillance data play a critical role in monitoring and ensuring continued waterborne disease prevention. These data also help point to causes of water-related illnesses so that threats to safe water, including aging infrastructure (e.g., water treatment plants and distribution systems), can be addressed.

3 Things to Know

Most outbreaks (42) resulted from exposures to drinking water, with an additional 15 caused by environmental exposures to water (rivers, streams or cooling towers), and 12 exposures to water that couldn’t be determined.

Legionella caused half of the 42 drinking water associated, resulting in 88% of hospitalizations and 13 deaths.

This is the first time CDC has reported drinking water outbreaks associated with harmful algal blooms.

About Kim Rodgers

Kim Rodgers serves as a Communications Specialist at NACCHO. Her work includes promoting local health departments' best practices, as well as partner tools and resources, in infectious disease and preparedness through NACCHO's communications channels, storytelling, and outreach to various audiences.

Registration is now open for the 2018 NACCHO Annual Conference, to be held July 10–12 in New Orleans, LA. The theme for this year’s conference is Unleashing the Power of Local Public Health, designed to highlight the ways in which local public health officials have and will continue to positively Read more →

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine launched the Environmental Health Matters Initiative (EHMI) to work across disciplines and sectors in developing lasting solutions to improve health today and for generations to come. EHMI will build on over two decades of work done by the National Academies in this Read more →